Don't wash it till it smells!

Don’t really understand this advice from makers of kayak gear for underlayment. I got a new shirt and the label tells you that. So I am supposed to go sweat in a garment for an hour or eight then not wash it? I could never put it on again or store it next to clean garments. If I was on a trip I could see that being the way to go. Saltwater drops on a garment too.

Haven’t seen that myself, but maybe washing risks damaging the garment so they are trying to balance the longevity of the garment with the cleanliness?

Synthetics stink quickly in hot weather. I’ve rinsed shirts halfway through a day on the water.

Do what we used to do in the Navy.
When we took our socks off each night, we would throw them against the wall. If they slid down they were good for another day. If they stuck, it was time to wash them

Jack, synthetics had not been invented when you were in the Navy . B)

If you used it in saltwater it will smell soon enough.

If you talking something for under dry wear, it’ll smell after two light or one more serious paddle. Must be that since you do’t wash neoprene, you just rinse it.

https://kokatat.com/product/outercore-long-sleeve-inuols it

I just wash everything and rinse drysuit or wet suit. Wash them once in a while. No clue how long till gear smells. Never did more than day trips. I was just wearing the above no splash jacket. Very very comfortable shirt. Better than the previous style. I know a few people who throw gear in car and there it sits till next use. Think it damaged the drysuits from summer heat.

“Wash it when it smells” (what it says in photos) and “Don’t wash it until it smells” (headline of this post) are very different meanings…

So, try it out. After you’re done wearing it, bury your face in the garment and inhale deeply.

When you wake up after passing out, get up off the floor and go put it in the laundry.

If you didn’t pass out, you’ll know to paddle harder next time.

Oh, and I love the “Enriched Macaroni Product” label. I guess it didn’t quite qualify for the “Pasta” label.

You know every single guy has practiced that laundry technique.

@Overstreet said:
You know every single guy has practiced that laundry technique.

Not me.

@Sparky961 said:
Oh, and I love the “Enriched Macaroni Product” label. I guess it didn’t quite qualify for the “Pasta” label.

That I boil no problem.

Back in my 20’s and 30’s when I was into winter backpacking and mountaineering we used to say that it was a survival technique to NEVER wash your sleeping bag or long underwear. The notion was that if you became stranded in a storm and ran out of food you could boil them for soup, using the longjohns as a strainer to get all the good chunky bits

Another “tip” was that when you returned from several weeks (or months) of an Alpine mountaineering expedition, you should prevail upon your local fire department to use their high-pressure hoses to blast off the funk-ified underwear and socks that had welded to your skin over the duration.

These and other useful wilderness sports tropes can be perused in cartoonist Tami Knight’s 1990 “Climbing Tales of Terror: (Wicked Lies and Malicious Slander)”. Though perhaps one has to have been at least peripherally involved in the climbing scene in the 70’s and 80’s to get the most out of the humor… I would have loved to see her take on paddling sports.

https://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Tales-Terror-Tami-Knight/dp/0897321022

@Peter-CA said:
“Wash it when it smells” (what it says in photos) and “Don’t wash it until it smells” (headline of this post) are very different meanings…

Very different?

<<These and other useful wilderness sports tropes can be perused in cartoonist Tami Knight’s 1990 “Climbing Tales of Terror: (Wicked Lies and Malicious Slander)”. Though perhaps one has to have been at least peripherally involved in the climbing scene in the 70’s and 80’s to get the most out of the humor… I would have loved to see her take on paddling sports>>

Pretty well done by William Nealy: https://www.amazon.com/Whitewater-Tales-Terror-William-Nealy/dp/0897320247

@rival51 said:

Pretty well done by William Nealy: https://www.amazon.com/Whitewater-Tales-Terror-William-Nealy/dp/0897320247

I may have to add that to the library!

You should.

Per William Nealy: Fun Hog … one whose toys on the roof are worth at least twice the value of the vehicle underneath.